


A Hundred-Thousand Glances

by SirEskimoChuck



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Domestic, Alternate Universe - Library, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Rating May Change, Sad and Happy, Tags Are Hard, Tags May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-25
Updated: 2014-11-26
Packaged: 2018-02-26 23:30:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2670437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SirEskimoChuck/pseuds/SirEskimoChuck
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes it isn't quite love at first glance. Or the second glance. Or even the third. Sometimes you have to look at someone a hundred-thousand different times before you realize that their eyes are your new favourite colour and the sound of their voice is your new favourite song. </p>
<p>Or in which Castiel and Dean are roommates in their last year of university and things start off pretty rocky. Slowly but surely both develop strong feelings and a not so unrequited love is born. But the love story of Castiel Novak and Dean Winchester hasn't even begun until they meet again years later in a library.</p>
<p>However, some love stories begin where they end...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introduction

**Author's Note:**

> This is a Co-Authored story between myself and my friend Jenna (who is posting this fic on Wattpad)
> 
> We are each writing every other chapter. This introduction was written by her and I get the first official chapter! I'm pretty excited about this whole fic. It's going to have angst and fluff and cats named after Hollywood Golden Age stars. 
> 
> Enjoy the ride,  
> -Zoe

 

 

* * *

 

 

_**2014** _

"You ever gonna head home?" The teasing voice of his boss snapped Castiel out of his little daydream. An embarrassed blush crept across his face as he sat up in his chair.

"Yes, sir." Castiel nodded, pushing his glasses up on his face and sneaking a glance at the clock. "Is that the actual time?" He asked, taking note of how his shift at the library ended twenty minutes ago. His surprise earned a chuckle from his boss.

"Yeah, kid. Don't want to keep your boyfriend waiting, do ya? I was wondering why you were still here, but now I see that you were zoned out." A crooked smile rested on the old man's lips as he gave Cas' shoulder a pat. "Go home, I'll close up."

Now, normally Castiel would decline the offer, saying how it was his duty to close, but this was different. He should have been home five minutes ago, and he knew Dean would be worried. Eagerly nodding, the young man sent him a grateful smile as he walked out from behind the counter.

"Thank you so much, sir.. I'll see you Monday." Grabbing his coat from the rack that rested in the corner, he made his way to the door, while pushing his arms through the sleeves. Hand on the knob, the voice of his boss made him turn around "What was that?"

"I said tell Dean I said 'hi'." He sent him a warm smile, leaning against the table. "He's a good kid. Make sure he stays that way, yeah?" Sending his employee a wink, the man turned around to busy himself with something else.

"Will do, sir." He opened the door, walking outside. The sudden drop of temperature made him shudder, hugging himself tightly as he walked to his car. Unlocking the door, he climbed in, quickly shutting the door behind him.

Taking a moment to push the keys into the ignition and start the car, Castiel sighed. After quickly doing his seat belt and pulling out onto the road, he turned the windshield wipers on at full speed.

The rain was pouring down sounded like pebbles hitting the roof of the car, which made the young man grip the steering wheel tighter as he attempted to see past the smeared windshield.

The sudden ring of his cellphone made him flinch, jerking the wheel a bit. Quickly straightening it out, he reached into the seat. Only taking his eyes off the road for a moment, Cas grabbed his phone. In the process of flipping it open, he dropped it to the ground.

A frustrated sigh escaped the man's lips. That would be Dean, calling to ask if he was okay. Bending down to grab his phone took longer than he thought. He tried desperately to keep the car straight, truly he did, but sometimes trying isn't good enough.

Castiel gripped the phone tightly, which wouldn't stop ringing. His screams were deafening, but silent to himself. The car crashed through a railing and, almost in slow motion, began rolling down the hill.

The windshield shattered, along with the window beside Cas. The phone had long since fallen from his grasp, and laid crushed under the brake. His lungs burned and he ached for Dean; for his soothing voice telling him it would be alright

He could hear his heart beating in his ear, as he slowly slipped into an unconscious state. Everything seemed to stop. The rolling of the car, the ringing of the cell phone, and the sound of Cas breathing.


	2. Chapter One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean and Castiel meet in 1998 and it sure as hell isn't love at first sight. Unless love and hate are the same thing but Castiel is pretty sure they aren't.
> 
> Also in which the Novak family is a riot and neither Castiel or Dean know how to find the middle of the room but they both sure as hell think they can.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to start this off with a thank you because people are already showing some interest in this story and that makes both Jenna and I pretty darn happy!
> 
> Here is my chapter. I know Jenna is just itching to write chapter two. Nonetheless I hope you enjoy this bit. I had a blast writing the Novak family (especially Becky and Chuck who are the best couple by far.)
> 
> Still not sure about a posting schedule but because of work and school I will not be able to post every day like this. Not only that but I am working on another story too! 
> 
> Feedback is always lovely. I really like receiving comments!
> 
> Enjoy the ride  
> -Zoe

 

 

* * *

 

 

_**1998** _

 

 _“I hate him already.”_ Those were the first words that left Castiel's lips in regards to Dean Winchester...

“Oh come on, Cas, he can't really be that bad,” Anna, Castiel's twin sister, chuckled as she pulled a heavy looking book off the shelf of the psychology section of the only library on campus. Castiel had always personally preferred the city libraries. However his sister tended to not venture far from campus. When he'd point that out she'd just reply with ‘I've got everything I need going for me right here so why would I bother leaving’ and there was never any point in trying to argue with Anna; she always won. It must have been because she had dealt with four older brothers all her life. Castiel prided himself on being the most tolerable of the brothers. Well, according to Anna of course but that might have also been the whole twin thing. The two had always been close. The Novak's weren't extremely spread apart but the six years between Michael and the twins seemed to create enough of a difference.

“He _is_ that bad, Anna,” Castiel groaned. He leaned his back against the shelf, resting his head against the spines of a few books. The red head only rolled her eyes at her over-dramatic twin brother before opening up the hard-covered text in her hands.  
“Anna, Dean Winchester is captain of the baseball team. He is in that crowd,” Castiel huffed and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his pants. Anna looked up at the other long enough to give him a look that practically yelled ‘you've got to be kidding me?’ Castiel simply frowned and pushed himself off the bookshelf.  
“My roommate is great, thanks for asking,” the girl said as she turned her focus back to the book. Castiel shot a scowl in her direction but it had no venom to it. If his sister had noticed she would have laughed. God, he loved his twin but he also hated her because she knew him far too well. Throughout their whole lives Cas and Anna had been joined at the hip. If someone messed with one twin they would quickly be faced with the other. They also were the only two Novak children who didn’t fight about absolutely everything.  
  
Instead of responding right away Castiel pulled out a chair at the closest table to where his sister stood. He hung the strap of his messenger bag on the back before sitting down. He turned to pull his bag open and pull out his tattered copy of Catcher in the Rye which had been his favourite book since he read it at sixteen. After a moment Anna joined Castiel. She plunked herself down in the chair across from her brother and rested the heavy text book on the table's wooden surface. Neither said another word.

X X X X

  
This was Castiel's last year of University and he was itching to get out. It wasn't that he didn’t like school - he loved it actually - it was that he just wanted to start his life already. Castiel had spent his first two years  of classes trying to push himself to become an architect. It wasn’t that he hated the idea. At first, Cas had truly enjoyed all of his classes and thus had excelled at each of them. His professors had gushed about his work and Castiel had smiled and took each and every compliment. But throughout those two years there was something nagging at the back of his mind. Slowly but surely the little voice saying that _‘maybe your heart belongs somewhere else? Are you sure want this, Castiel’_ ate away so much at the idea of architecture that Castiel knew he had to change his major. His family had been disappointed, minus Anna - knew Castiel better than he knew himself- and his fathe but the rest of the family didn't put up _too_ much of a fight in regards to his choice.

The Novak’s had a reputation. Castiel's parents and all of his siblings had attended the same University. Charles Novak (who had been born Charles Shurley until his father left his mother and she changed his surname to hers) had worked for many years on Wall Street in New York City which is where he had met Rebecca Rosen. The two had fallen in love quickly and after there marriage there was enough money that they moved to Topeka and each followed their own passions. Chuck had gone on to publishing business articles and editorials in magazines like Times and Rebecca was a full time socialite. Michael, the oldest of the five Novak children, had been born in New York two years before the family packed up and headed to Kansas. It was a few months after the move that Lucifer - also know as Luke - was born. Then three years later Gabriel was born. It was a surprise that after Gabriel Rebecca still wanted more kids, Chuck sure as hell didn’t. But alas, Rebecca had been set on at least having one daughter since the moment she had known she was pregnant with Michael.

Castiel and Anna had only been fifteen minutes apart. It was pretty clear that Anna was their mothers favourite from the second she was born. It wasn’t that Castiel had been tossed aside or anything, his father always had a soft spot for his youngest son. It might have been because Castiel had been the quietist out of the bunch. Michael and Lucifer were always at each others necks - they still were - and Gabriel was just loud in general. Usually when the rest of the house was screaming at each other Castiel would climb onto his fathers lap as he worked and ask questions even though he didn’t understand what his father did in the slightest.

Michael, being the first born, considered himself to the top dog in the household. His grades had always been the best and his future was brightest. The oldest had gone to Wichita University to study business. He had always been a suck up to their father and wanted to work on Wall Street just like Chuck. Of course their father had been flattered but he had always been the kind of person who preferred his children to do what they wanted but Michael had never truly been able to wrap his head around the idea of free will. Naturally he had breezed through business school but had stayed even after getting his degree. Throughout his time at school, Michael’s mind had wandered to the idea of politics. This had pleased Rebecca greatly. Chuck had never been a huge fan of politicians but he had stayed silent. Michael had flown up the political ladder like it was nothing and in 1996 had become the youngest Senator in American history and yes it was a pretty huge deal. And yes no one was ever going to forget it any time soon thanks to both Michael and Rebecca. After Michael had been appointed Senator. He hadn't technically won the position in the first place but when a general election did come around he remained in the senator position. It was all Rebecca Novak had talked about for months.

Lucifer, who had always done his best to one up Michael, had aced law school with marks that rivaled his older brothers before going off to become a criminal justice lawyer in Los Angeles. Soon he had worked on enough big cases that his name was becoming just as well known as Michael's. As a result there rivalry remained just as strong and just as fiery as it always had. Michael beamed about how one day he was going to run for president all while Lucifer rambled on about the superme court. The rest of the family - with the exception of Mrs.Novak - simply tuned all the squabbling out.

Gabriel didn’t give a damn about what his siblings did. He just wanted to do what he wanted which happened to be medicine. Naturally no one was disappointed. Once finished medical school Gabriel had decided to stay in Topeka but had gotten his own flat closer to the hospital in the city. He too had moved quickly up the ranks in his job and once the current head surgeon retired in a few years the title would no doubt fall to Gabriel.

As a result of each of the five children's bright and glistening track record in life it was no surprise that Christmas always tended to be quite the event. It was one of the few times that all the Novak's were together. As a result there was always a lot of catching up, boasting, and fighting to be done. Castiel and Chuck often hid up in the study and caught up in a much less verbally abusive way until Rebecca forced them to go to Christmas party after Christmas party.

Anna had chosen to become a psychiatrist because even though Castiel had always been the quietist of the Novak children it was Anna who kept her cool best; Cas just knew when to head for the hill. Their mother had been so proud when her two youngest children had finally left the nest. However, she hadn't been so proud when Castiel had called home after finals in his second semester of his second year.

“Did you not pass your finals. Castiel?” she had demanded.  
“No mother, I was top of the class it's just-”  
“Then why on Earth do you want to change your major? You are doing so well!” Rebecca and wailed and Cas couldn’t lie when he had pulled the phone away from his ear wincing slightly. He had taken a deep breath in before explaining the whole situation.  
“I love architecture. Truly I do, mom. But you have to understand that it isn't what I want to do with my life.”There was a pause. When Rebecca spoke it was only slightly softer than she had before.

“Then what it is that you want to do?” Without hesitation Castiel replied, his voice as confident as he could muster.  
“Library science.” That had been followed by a lot of yelling and Castiel had once again pulled the phone away from his ear. Before he even had a chance to get a word inbetween his mother's she was yelling something along the lines of _'Charles get down here right now and come talk to your son! He has lost his mind, I tell you! The boy has gone crazy!'_

Castiel had chewed at his bottom lip while his parents bickered in the background. He only could make out what his mother was saying; she was the louder of the two and Chuck was a quiet man by nature. There was a moment of silence and Castiel had almost thought that his mother had hung up on him but a much softer voice stopped him from putting the phone back on the receiver.  
“Hello? Cas?” Chuck had asked. Castiel let out a sigh of relief. His father didn’t seem angry but then again it had always been tough to read his father's emotions.  
“Dad, listen, I know that librarian science isn't what you were wanting me to do but-” Cas had began but Chuck was quick to cut him off.  
“Castiel, it's alright, that fact that you are doing what you want has always been good enough for me,” Mr.Novak's voice was warm and Castiel couldn’t help the smile that tugged at corners of his lips. It did fade into a frown only a second later when his mother started screeching something along the lines of _‘Charles it most certainly is not fine! Castiel is going to have no money! You just can't let your sons destroy his life by becoming a librarian!’_  
Chuck's voice had become a little more muffled as he moved away from the phone to talk to his wife.  
“ _Honestly, Rebecca he isn’t dropping out or anything, he's becoming a librarian,”_ then Chuck's voice had grown louder as he had put the phone back to his ear in order to address his son. “How much does a librarian make an hour?”  
“About forty,” Cas had replied. It wasn't as much as his siblings would/were making but it wasn’t bad either. After all many people who worked in jobs such as retail seemed to make it on minimum wage so forty was just enough for him. His mother, on the other hand, had a much different opinion.   
“Forty!” Rebecca had cried. “How is he going to pay the bills! He is going to starve and have no electricity or water or heat or even cable! Oh Charles what is our boy doing?” Chuck said nothing but made an audible sigh.  
“I best go, Castiel, before your mother has an anxiety attack, you know how she is...”  
Castiel did infarct know what his mother was like when she was truly worked up.  
“This is really what I want to do,” he had replied.  
“I know it is, you’ll do great. See you in a few days for summer break. Your mother will get over it,” Chuck had said before the line had gone dead.

Rebecca hadn’t gotten over it. She eventually had just accepted that Castiel was going to basically be homeless - well he wasn’t but he had given up convincing her that forty an hour was pretty decent - and that her baby was going to die on the streets. Despite what Rebecca and the other three Novak brothers thought Castiel had found that he was truly happy and was enjoying library science far more than architecture.

X X X X

“Castiel. Earth to Castiel. Are you still alive?" Anna asked as she lightly hit her twin with the text book she had been reading. Castiel blinked as he snapped out of his daydream. He looked up at her with a questioning expression. The redhead smiled. “You were pretty out of it, I had almost thought you had fallen asleep with your eyes open.”  
“I don't think that is possible," Castiel stated but his answer was ignored. Anna motioned for him to get up and leave with her.  
“It's getting pretty late, Cas. Classes start tomorrow and all. You don't want to wreck that perfect attendance of yours do you? Especially not on the first day!” Anna joked. Castiel rolled his eyes. He pushed the chair back and stood up and followed his sister out of the library. They both walked out of the building and then went there separate ways. As Castiel walked home all he thought about was the comfort of his bed and a goodnight sleep. He had completely forgotten all about Dean Winchester.

Well, he had forgotten about his annoying roommate until he had opened the door to his room. Immediately Castiel’s expression turned cold as he scowled and walked into the small space. Dean's side of the room was already a mess. But honestly what had he even expected?

“Did a tornado rip through your side of the room or what, Winchester?” Castiel snipped as he moved towards his much neater side of the room. He made a mental note to never glance at Dean's side of the room for fear of having an anxiety attack that would rival those of his mother's. Instead, he locked eyes with Dean until the other smirked and Castiel had to look away because the other's expression was annoying as hell.  
“It can't be that bad?” Dean hummed in response, his tone dripping with how many shits he didn't give. When there was no reply Dean added “you aren't going to draw a line across the room to separate our spaces, are you?”  
This earned him and icy glare from Castiel who had begun digging through his clothes trying to find a white t-shirt he could wear to sleep. Dean didn't seem bothered in the slightest. Instead, the brunette had pushed himself off of his bed and backed up to the door. He glanced at the far wall. Before giving a small nod and moving forward to a spot on the blank dorm room wall.  
“See, if you _were_ to draw a line across our room the middle is right here,” Dean smirked and tapped at a point on the wall. Castiel, who had found his shirt, tossed it onto the bed and shook his head.  
“That's not the middle of the room, Dean,” he chimed. Dean's smirk faltered. He tapped at the wall again.  
“Of course it is the middle of the room!” Dean argued. Castiel shook his head once more and walked over to Dean. He placed his index finger on a spot on the wall close to where Dean was but far enough away to make a difference.  
“This,” Castiel began, looking from his roommate to the spot on the wall where his finger rested “this is the middle of the room.”  
“You're crazy, that's so far off!” Dean argued. “Do you even know how to measure anything?” A sarcastic laugh escaped Castiel's lips.  
“I was top of my architecture classes for two straight years in a row, Dean, I think I know how to measure a fucking room,” Castiel snapped.  
“Ooh College boy thinks he’s so damn smart, huh? Have you ever built anything? I spent the last six years helping build homes during the summer. I know my shit just as well as you do if not better,” Dean's voice grew louder. A smirk replaced the scowl on Castiel's lips.  
“Well then tell me, Dean, these houses that you built, are they still standing?”  
Dean's expression had turned almost feral. He was pretty pissed off and that fact alone gave Castiel all the satisfaction that he needed. Cas had been completely ready to fight back any remarks Dean made but to his surprise Dean simply shook his head and turned his back on the other.  
“I’m going to sleep,” the brunette mumbled. He walked towards his bed and pulled the covers back before lying down with his back still to Castiel. “Turn off the lights when you go out, okay?”

When Castiel got back to his room after getting ready for bed Dean was already fast asleep and snoring loudly. Very fucking loudly. It took every bit of Castiel's self restraint not to throw something at his roommate just to shut him the hell up. Instead, Cas simply took of his jeans - it was still too hot damn hot to wear pajama pants - and got into his own bed.

He could already tell that this school year was going to be a little more exciting than the previous ones and that was not a good thing,

 


End file.
